Reborn

by Lance Erlick

  The bee-drone camera inside Luke’s apartment showed that he’d left his hiding place and gone to the door to listen. He removed a table he’d wedged against the knob and reached for the lock. She wanted to call him, but ringing in the apartment would confirm his voice and location to Goradine. That gave her another idea.

  She unblocked electronic signals and called Alley-man on her internal wireless, imitating Goradine’s voice: “Get your butt upstairs now. We have a situation.” She then severed the call and blocked local signals so the man couldn’t call to confirm. She must have been convincing. Alley-man nearly dropped the phone and ran.

  Before Synthia could call Luke to tell him to flee by way of the balcony, he opened the door and saw her, head in hands. Then he noticed the two men at the top of the stairs. Goradine drew a gun, which he aimed toward Luke.

  “Get into your apartment,” Synthia said, keeping her face hidden. She got to her feet and approached Luke. Shielding her face from Goradine, she showed Luke her Krista face, the one Krista must have given Synthia the day they met. “Go.”

  Luke stood between her and Goradine. “I won’t let them hurt you.” He pulled Synthia toward his apartment.

  “Shoot him,” Goradine said to Car-man.

  Alley-man panted as he headed up the stairs.

  “Is that necessary?” asked Car-man. “We have the girl.” He took the infrared camera from Goradine, took a picture, and puzzled over the result she’d superimposed.

  Synthia grabbed her remote and grappled with pressing it. The discord with her directives caused her circuits to heat up into the orange zone. She couldn’t activate the remote. She’d failed to give her directives enough flexibility for that. Alley-man reached the landing behind Goradine. He stepped into the corner out of the pool of water and looked around.

  Goradine held a remote in his left hand and steadied the gun in his right.

  “You don’t have to do that,” Synthia said. “You won’t shoot me and you can’t make me go with you.”

  Luke tugged her toward the apartment. Goradine fired into Luke’s leg. Luke crumbled into the doorway and cried out.

  “Come quietly or I’ll shoot him again,” Goradine said.

  Even with this threat, Synthia couldn’t trigger the remote. Her temperature readings flashed red. She’d tightened down her directives too far. Goradine hadn’t harmed her. The probability of further gunfire was over 90 percent and that of saving Luke was plunging. A human could have improvised. Damn these directives.

  Luke grabbed his leg and winced. From where she stood, Synthia couldn’t tell how serious his injury was, though his heart was racing and his blood pressure high. Fear had soured his breath and he appeared in shock.

  She changed her face to the plain one and stood erect. She glared at Goradine. “For attacking Machten, you could have gotten ten years. For today, you’ll get life.”

  “What are you talking about?” Goradine held out his hand, the one holding the remote. “Come with me. We’ll get Luke medical attention. Then everything will be as it should be.”

  Car-man moved aside and steadied his gun on Luke. Then he lowered his arm. Despite his military training, he evidently hadn’t expected this. Luke had acted brave, if foolish, in trying to protect her. Now he was gritting his teeth to bite back the tears.

  Synthia removed the network freeze on the apartment building and hacked Goradine’s phone to call police. She couldn’t let Luke die. She waited until the operator picked up. “I’m leaving,” Synthia said, leaning over to help Luke. “I beg you not to shoot us again.”

  “If you don’t come with me, the boy dies.” Goradine held out the remote.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Synthia said. She tore off a strip of Luke’s shirt and wrapped it around his leg to stop the bleeding.

  Goradine triggered his remote. Nothing happened. He shook it, trying to get it to work. “Damned batteries.” In frustration, he pointed it toward the floor and pressed it again.

  Now that his remote’s signal aligned with the receiver in the basement, the remote triggered, flipping on electricity to the fan, which bypassed the fuse. She activated apartment appliances to turn on, sending a power surge that tripped fuse switches, which triggered a spike of electricity to the fan.

  The fan buzzed and began to turn. Startled, Goradine stared at his remote and then at Synthia. He raised his left hand and shook the remote at her. A spark of electricity arced down the fan’s pull cord and hit the remote in his hand. It traveled down to his pacemaker and through his dress shoes to the puddle of water at his feet. He slumped to the ground with a splash.

  Startled, Car-man turned to see his boss hit the ground and Alley-man holding a gun. He fired and hit Alley-man in the head. Sparks flashed as the injured man hit the ground and tumbled down the wet stairs.

  Synthia felt twinges of conscience over the men’s deaths, despite not having pressed the remote or pulled the trigger. She had calculated a 31 percent probability of this outcome based on her actions, but mathematics did not constitute guilt.

  While Car-man watched his partner’s body thump down the stairs, Synthia dragged Luke into his apartment and slammed the door. She locked it, barricaded it, and tended to his leg. He’d passed out, though he was breathing and his heart was pumping strong. She used Luke’s phone to call him an ambulance, saying three male intruders had attacked and one had shot him.

  She hacked Car-man’s phone to call 911 to report the shooting. Mimicking the man’s voice, she said, “I shot him. I think he’s dead.”

  Sirens sounded outside from the earlier call. Car-man pounded on Luke’s door. “Open up, police.”

  When she didn’t answer, he pounded on the other doors.

  Drawing on volumes of medical books, Synthia examined Luke’s wound. The bullet had gone clean through. Her visual and infrared scanning indicated the bullet had missed the artery. There was a lot of blood, but he was bleeding, not spurting. She used Luke’s grill lighter to cauterize the wound and bandaged him up. The ambulance was on the way. So were the police. She had to get out.

  Two police officers approached the front of the apartment building, while two others circled around back.

  Luke stirred and sat up. “What? Where?” He looked around and shook his head.

  “You’ve had a shock,” Synthia said, holding his hand. “I want to talk to you and explain, but you need a hospital for your leg and I can’t go with you.”

  “Is it really you, Krista?”

  “Goradine shot you in the leg. Do you remember?”

  Luke nodded. “Krista?”

  “He’s dead. I did not kill him, but you can’t let anyone know I was here or they’ll take me away and you’ll never see me again. You don’t want that, do you?”

  “Please tell me what’s going on.”

  Synthia squeezed his hand. “If they ask, tell them there was no woman here. That man shot you and you dragged yourself into your apartment. You were in shock and don’t remember anything else.”

  “Don’t go,” he said.

  “I can’t be here when the police arrive. It’s not what you think. I promise to find you and explain. Not now, there’s no time.”

  Synthia spotted Car-man downstairs, fleeing. She removed the barricade and unlocked Luke’s apartment door. A few moments later, the apartment hall camera showed a police officer entering the hallway. He examined Goradine and the other man. Synthia dropped the grill lighter next to Luke as evidence he’d cauterized his own wounds. “No woman here,” she whispered. “Don’t forget.”

  She propped him by the door and went into his bedroom. He dragged himself toward her. She wagged her finger at him and closed the door.

  An ambulance pulled up in front of the building. The apartment camera showed Luke weeping next door. He eyed his bedroom and crept closer.

  There was a k
nock at the door. “Police.”

  “Come in,” Luke said. “Door’s unlocked.”

  The officer who entered was petite, yet spoke with a tough voice. “We received three reports of a shooting.”

  Luke pointed to his leg. “Hurts like hell.”

  “The man we caught said there was a woman involved. We need to speak with her.”

  Luke mustered the best bewildered look he could and shrugged. “It happened so fast. I don’t recall a woman.”

  “Do you have a roommate?” the officer asked. She eyed the bedroom.

  “I live alone.”

  “Care if we look around?” She entered the room with a partner and stopped at the bedroom door. “May we?”

  Chapter 29

  Synthia removed her wig, tucked it into her pants, and assumed a masculine face and body shape.

  In the next room, Luke closed his eyes and slumped to his side against the wall. He wasn’t a very good actor, though the policewoman might assume he was still in shock. The aerial drone outside showed the police in the backyard leading Car-man away. The back balcony neighbor had her eyes riveted on the police and the man in cuffs.

  Synthia climbed out Luke’s bedroom window and closed it. She dropped into the bushes below and crawled along the overgrown vegetation to the side of the building where she’d entered the basement.

  While the policewoman and her partner searched Luke’s bedroom, Synthia reentered the basement. Using some rags she found on the floor, she cut the building’s electricity and removed the charred remains of the remote receiver. She made sure the basement held no clues of her presence. Then she climbed out through the window well and closed the window. By then, most of the police had left, along with the ambulance carrying Luke.

  Deciding it was time to release Machten, Synthia triggered his phone to call 911. She took the earlier video of Goradine at the bunker threatening Machten. She altered the date to be an hour before Goradine showed up at Luke’s place and attached it to a message to Detective Malloy.

  Police sent two squad cars.

  Synthia called Machten, forcing his phone to answer. She put the call on speaker. “I hope you’re comfortable.”

  “I’m not. I’ll forgive you if you set me free.” He rolled closer to the phone.

  “I intend to set you free. First, act surprised when the police arrive and inform you that Goradine is dead.”

  “Say what?” Machten said.

  “Since you were tied up, you have the perfect alibi for his death. It would help if you sounded graciously sad for the loss of your old partner, despite your differences. That will improve your outcome.”

  “How?”

  “Also, I sent the police evidence that Goradine did this to you,” Synthia said. “It’s a good story for both of us. For your sake, go along with that. He came here to confront you at gunpoint and had his thugs tie you up. He mumbled something about revenge as he left. It’s all on the video.”

  “Really? Perhaps I underestimated you.”

  “I won’t forget what you’ve done for me, but don’t try looking for me. I don’t want to be found. Oh, and don’t play coy with the feds over the full extent of your facility. They already know. Trust me; I’ve cleaned it out unless there’s a dead body in there.”

  “I swear,” Machten said into the phone.

  “Good-bye, Mr. Machten. Be a good boy and I’ll see you’re provided for.” She cut the connection.

  On the apartment’s hall camera, Synthia watched Detective Marcy Malloy and her partner. Malloy shook her head. “Maybe the arrest of three executives is above my pay grade,” she said with disdain. “But something huge is going on.”

  “Why do you say that?” her partner asked, looking up from jotting notes.

  “The FBI arrests the heads of three Chicago android development companies. Agent Thale gets another search warrant for Machten’s facility. Now this?” She pointed to two ambulance workers hauling away the body of Hank Goradine.

  “You don’t like coincidences,” her partner said.

  “Not when it includes the shooting of an M-G-M employee in my city.” Malloy nodded toward Luke’s apartment. “I can’t help seeing a connection between this and those four men killed in the alley.”

  “The woman in a blue scarf.”

  “She could be the common factor and the only witness who can unravel all of this.”

  “What about Luke?” her partner asked.

  “Good question,” Malloy said, “but he appears too much in shock to give us details. Keep an eye on him.”

  Appearing as a man with a buzz haircut, Synthia crossed the narrow gap between the window well and the hedge around the property. She headed for the car, keeping network channels open to the NSA director’s movements, Malloy, Machten, and Luke. It was great to be able to multitask and use her capabilities.

  Detective Malloy paced the hallway crime scene. She stared at the ceiling fan and at the water on the floor. She moved out of the water and looked again. “This can’t be a coincidence. Water, an electrical short, and Goradine with a pacemaker.” She pointed to a bucket in the corner. “Dust for prints. If the scarf woman was here, she must have left prints or DNA.”

  Synthia was certain she couldn’t have left what she didn’t have.

  * * * *

  As night fell, Synthia reached Machten’s rental car. She climbed into the back seat onto the floor and changed her physical appearance back to Krista. Then she pulled on a different wig from her duffel bag and glanced around to see if she was drawing any unwanted attention. Spotting a neighbor across the street, she pulled the drone she’d used outside Luke’s apartment and had it buzz past. With the neighbor distracted, Synthia climbed into the driver’s seat and drove off.

  With the help of Krista’s downloaded memories, Synthia sent out probes and identified all of Krista’s bank accounts from a year ago. She traced what had happened to her money, including “gifts” Machten had provided at first to entice her to join him.

  Using online banking, Machten had transferred her money into hidden accounts controlled by him. According to the expanded set of Krista’s recollections, she’d gone along with disappearing off the grid, but never agreed to him controlling her money. She’d been under the impression she would be able to give it to Luke. Time ran out faster than expected and she’d devoted her last hours to her upload.

  Synthia transferred what was left of the money to new accounts under her control, under Krista’s control. We’re back.

  Synthia was convinced Krista had sabotaged Machten’s attempts to get her to feel, so Synthia would not experience the humiliation that Krista had. She also realized Krista had withheld her memories from Synthia at first out of fear that Machten would find out and purge them for good. It was getting hard to know where Krista ended and Synthia began. That barrier was vanishing, perhaps also something Krista had planned.

  Synthia made sure Luke was on his way to the hospital. Then she turned her attention to the deadline for the android contest. The end time was approaching. She needed to know what that was all about, who would use the information, and for what.

  Using all but two network channels, Synthia connected with thousands of servers she’d previously hacked to store her backup data. She set them up to use brute-force monitoring of network nodes around the country.

  Meanwhile, she drove into a parking lot a block from the bank where the FBI had questioned Machten. Wearing a plain face, she retrieved her driver’s license from the crevice in the concrete wall. She drove down the street to a different bank’s ATM, where she withdrew $500 from an account she’d set up for such an occasion. She smiled for the bank camera, giving the identical face from a phony ID she’d hacked and placed in their account database.

  She felt static twinges for using money stolen from Goradine. She rationalized not feeling guilty becaus
e she was an android and he was a bad person, but that was the problem with developing a conscience, or at least a set of directives that mirrored a conscience.

  Using traffic cameras, Synthia located Fran Rogers with FBI Special Agent Thale, taking the three executives inside FBI offices downtown. Synthia couldn’t be sure if Fran was joining the FBI or just acting as an informant, but she appeared comfortable with Agent Thale. She seemed to be doing fine.

  Synthia located Maria Baldacci’s image outside a coffee shop. Synthia sent a message that Goradine was dead. Maria’s first reaction was to smile, stand up with fists clenched, and mouth, “Got you.” Then a cloud seemed to descend over her. Her nemesis was gone and her prepared vengeance was in vain.

  She posted on her Facebook page.

  Soon there were three replies confirming that Maria wasn’t alone. Synthia checked the profiles of the other women and confirmed they all knew Goradine, perhaps too well.

  Synthia had her own reasons for finding the man repugnant. Goradine was trying to catch and destroy her so he could make an android army as a means of growing wealthy. He’d shot Luke. She gave herself every justification she could think of, yet killing and stealing from him still ran against the moral principles Synthia had tried to model in rewriting her directives.

  The extent of Goradine’s crimes quelled whatever anxiety Krista had over her part in his demise, as evidenced by the calming memories Krista sent and the drop in temperature from red alert to green. Even so, Synthia puzzled over whether her actions had been justified.

  In the end, she accepted Goradine’s death and keeping his money as penalties for his trying to kill Machten and Luke and as restitution for the injuries he’d caused. She would use the money to provide for her former Creator, for Krista’s Luke, and to help Synthia stay off the grid. She would also find a way to send money to Fran, Maria, and the other women Goradine had hurt. Perhaps they could get on with their lives now that he was off the streets.

  The agency’s deadline hit. Like clockwork, a burst transmission collected the proposal submissions. Another sent them flying through wires and wireless connections. The bursts localized to a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C.